Bible Timeline · Traditional count about 2050 BC
Abraham Offers Isaac on Mount Moriah
God tested Abraham by telling him to offer Isaac on a mountain in Moriah. Abraham obeyed, trusting that God would provide, and at the last moment God stopped him and provided a ram. Moriah later became the site of the temple in Jerusalem.
Read it in the Bible: Genesis 22:1-19 Hebrews 11:17-19 John 1:29 2 Chronicles 3:1 Romans 8:32 John 3:16
In Genesis 22, God tested Abraham by telling him to take his son Isaac to a mountain in the land of Moriah and offer him as a burnt offering. Abraham obeyed, telling Isaac that God Himself would provide the lamb. At the last moment, the angel of Yahweh stopped him, and God provided a ram instead. By the traditional count this happened about 2050 BC, when Isaac was a young man. Jewish tradition calls it the Akedah, the Binding. Christians have always seen it as one of the clearest pictures of God the Father giving His Son.
Why Did God Ask Abraham to Sacrifice Isaac?
The chapter opens by telling the reader up front, "God tested Abraham." We know something Abraham did not. God never intended for Isaac to die. But the command was real, and it was the hardest thing God ever asked of him.
“Take your son,” God said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.” Genesis 22:2
Listen to how God names him. Your son. Your only son. Isaac. Whom you love. Each phrase cuts deeper. This is the first time the word love appears in the Bible, and it is a father's love for his son.
People sometimes ask how a good God could ask this. Here is what matters. The nations around Abraham really did sacrifice children to their gods. Later, God's law strictly forbade it, in Leviticus 18:21 and Deuteronomy 12:31. In this story God stops it, and He shows that He is not that kind of god. He does not take our children. He provides.
What Happened on Mount Moriah?
Abraham got up early. He did not argue this time. They traveled for three days.
On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. Genesis 22:4
Abraham told his servants something remarkable in Genesis 22:5: "The boy and I will go over there to worship, and then we will return to you." We will return. Abraham expected to come back with Isaac. Then they walked up the mountain.
Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac. He himself carried the fire and the sacrificial knife, and the two of them walked on together. Genesis 22:6
Isaac noticed something missing and asked, "Where is the lamb?" Abraham's answer is the heart of the chapter.
Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two walked on together. Genesis 22:8
At the top, Abraham built an altar, bound Isaac and laid him on the wood. Isaac was strong enough to carry a load of wood up a mountain, and his father was over 100. Isaac could have run. Many teachers point out that he must have let himself be bound. Just as Abraham raised the knife, the angel of Yahweh called out.
“Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.” Genesis 22:12
Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. He offered it in place of his son.
What Does Yahweh Will Provide Mean?
And Abraham called that place Yahweh Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of Yahweh it will be provided.” Genesis 22:14
In Hebrew this is Yahweh Yireh, often written Jehovah Jireh in older English Bibles. The word for provide also means "to see." God sees ahead and makes provision. Abraham's words became a saying that pointed to the future: on this mountain, it will be provided.
How Old Was Isaac When Abraham Offered Him?
The Bible does not say. Genesis 22 calls him a "boy" or "young man," a word used for teens and young adults. He was old enough to carry the wood. The Jewish historian Josephus said he was 25. Others say he was in his teens. The traditional count used on this timeline places the event about 2050 BC, when Isaac would have been in his teens.
Where Is Mount Moriah Today?
The Bible connects Moriah with Jerusalem. About a thousand years after Abraham, King Solomon built the temple there.
Then Solomon began to build the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where Yahweh had appeared to his father David. This was the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 2 Chronicles 3:1
That is the hill known today as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where the Dome of the Rock now stands. So the place where God provided a ram for Abraham became the place where Israel offered sacrifices for a thousand years. Jesus was crucified just outside the city walls, nearby.
What Does Hebrews Say About Abraham and Isaac?
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac on the altar. He who had received the promises was ready to offer his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and in a sense, he did receive Isaac back from death. Hebrews 11:17 to 19
This explains Abraham's calm. God had promised that the family would come through Isaac. So if Isaac died, God would have to raise him from the dead. Abraham believed in resurrection centuries before Easter.
How Does the Binding of Isaac Point to Jesus?
The parallels are hard to miss:
- A father offers his only, beloved son. John 3:16 says God gave His one and only Son.
- The son carries the wood up the hill. Jesus carried His cross to Golgotha in John 19:17.
- It happens in the region of Moriah, near where Jesus would die.
- On the third day, Abraham receives his son back, "in a sense" from death. Jesus rose on the third day.
- God provides a substitute to die in the son's place.
Here is the difference. God stopped Abraham's hand. No one stopped the hand that was raised against Jesus. When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he finally answered Isaac's question.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29
Where is the lamb? There He is. God Himself provided the lamb. Paul draws the lesson for you today in Romans 8:32. If God did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also give us everything we need? The God who provided on the mountain still provides.
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Questions People Ask
Why did God ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac?
Genesis 22:1 says God was testing Abraham. God never meant for Isaac to die, and He stopped Abraham and provided a ram instead. The story showed Abraham's faith and gave a picture of God the Father giving His own Son.
What does Jehovah Jireh mean?
Jehovah Jireh is an older English form of Yahweh Yireh, meaning Yahweh Will Provide. Abraham gave the mountain this name in Genesis 22:14 after God provided a ram in Isaac's place. The Hebrew word also carries the idea that God sees ahead.
Where is Mount Moriah?
2 Chronicles 3:1 says Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah. Today that hill is known as the Temple Mount. Jesus was crucified just outside the city, nearby.
How old was Isaac when Abraham almost sacrificed him?
The Bible does not say. He was old enough to carry the wood for the offering. The historian Josephus said he was 25, while others think he was a teenager.
How is the story of Abraham and Isaac like Jesus?
A father offers his only beloved son, the son carries the wood up a hill, and on the third day the father receives him back as if from death. God provides a substitute. Christians see this fulfilled in Jesus, the Lamb of God.